Chapter 60
Environment--international agreements: party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands signed, but not ratified: Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Marine Life Conservation
Geography--note: there are 216 Israeli settlements and civilian land use sites in the West Bank, 42 in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, 24 in the Gaza Strip, and 29 in East Jerusalem (August 1998 est.)
People
Population: 5,749,760 (July 1999 est.) note: includes about 166,000 Israeli settlers in the West Bank, about 19,000 in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, about 6,000 in the Gaza Strip, and about 176,000 in East Jerusalem (August 1998 est.)
Age structure: 0-14 years: 28% (male 822,192; female 783,905) 15-64 years: 62% (male 1,792,062; female 1,783,755) 65 years and over: 10% (male 244,438; female 323,408) (1999 est.)
Population growth rate: 1.81% (1999 est.)
Birth rate: 19.83 births/1,000 population (1999 est.)
Death rate: 6.16 deaths/1,000 population (1999 est.)
Net migration rate: 4.42 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1999 est.)
Sex ratio: at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female under 15 years: 1.05 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 1 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.76 male(s)/female total population: 0.99 male(s)/female (1999 est.)
Infant mortality rate: 7.78 deaths/1,000 live births (1999 est.)
Life expectancy at birth: total population: 78.61 years male: 76.71 years female: 80.61 years (1999 est.)
Total fertility rate: 2.68 children born/woman (1999 est.)
Nationality: noun: Israeli(s) adjective: Israeli
Ethnic groups: Jewish 80.1% (Europe/America-born 32.1%, Israel-born 20.8%, Africa-born 14.6%, Asia-born 12.6%), non-Jewish 19.9% (mostly Arab) (1996 est.)
Religions: Judaism 80.1%, Islam 14.6% (mostly Sunni Muslim), Christian 2.1%, other 3.2% (1996 est.)
Languages: Hebrew (official), Arabic used officially for Arab minority, English most commonly used foreign language
Literacy: definition: age 15 and over can read and write total population: 95% male: 97% female: 93% (1992 est.)
Government
Country name: conventional long form: State of Israel conventional short form: Israel local long form: Medinat Yisra'el local short form: Yisra'el
Data code: IS
Government type: republic
Capital: Jerusalem note: Israel proclaimed Jerusalem as its capital in 1950, but the US, like nearly all other countries, maintains its Embassy in Tel Aviv
Administrative divisions: 6 districts (mehozot, singular--mehoz); Central, Haifa, Jerusalem, Northern, Southern, Tel Aviv
Independence: 14 May 1948 (from League of Nations mandate under British administration)
National holiday: Independence Day, 14 May 1948; note--Israel declared independence on 14 May 1948, but the Jewish calendar is lunar and the holiday may occur in April or May
Constitution: no formal constitution; some of the functions of a constitution are filled by the Declaration of Establishment (1948), the basic laws of the parliament (Knesset), and the Israeli citizenship law
Legal system: mixture of English common law, British Mandate regulations, and, in personal matters, Jewish, Christian, and Muslim legal systems; in December 1985, Israel informed the UN Secretariat that it would no longer accept compulsory ICJ jurisdiction
Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal
Executive branch: chief of state: President Ezer WEIZMAN (since 13 May 1993) head of government: Prime Minister Binyamin NETANYAHU (since 18 June 1996) cabinet: Cabinet selected from and approved by the Knesset elections: president elected by the Knesset for a five-year term; election last held 4 March 1998 (next to be held NA March 2003); prime minister elected by popular vote for a four-year term; election last held 29 May 1996 (early elections are scheduled for 17 May 1999); note--in March 1992, the Knesset approved legislation, effective in 1996, which allowed for the direct election of the prime minister; under the new law, each voter casts two ballots--one for the direct election of the prime minister and one for the party in the Knesset; the candidate that receives the largest percentage of the popular vote then works to form a coalition with other parties to achieve a parliamentary majority of 61 seats; finally, the candidate must submit his or her cabinet to the Knesset for approval and this must be done within 45 days of the election; in contrast to the old system, under the new law, the prime minister's party need not be the single-largest party in the Knesset election results: Ezer WEIZMAN reelected president by the Knesset with a total of 63 votes, other candidate, Shaul AMOR, received 49 votes (there were seven abstentions and one absence); Binyamin NETANYAHU elected prime minister; percent of vote--Binyamin NETANYAHU 50.4%, Shimon PERES 49.5%
Legislative branch: unicameral Knesset or parliament (120 seats; members elected by popular vote to serve four-year terms) elections: last held 29 May 1996 (early elections are scheduled for 17 May 1999) election results: percent of vote by party--NA; seats by party--Labor Party 34, Likud Party 32, SHAS 10, MERETZ 9, National Religious Party 9, Yisra'el Ba'Aliya 7, Hadash-Balad 5, Third Way 4, United Arab List 4, United Jewish Torah 4, Moledet 2; note--Likud, Tzomet, and Gesher candidates ran on a joint list
Judicial branch: Supreme Court, appointed for life by the president
Political parties and leaders:
Political pressure groups and leaders: Gush Emunim, Israeli nationalists advocating Jewish settlement on the West Bank and Gaza Strip; Peace Now supports territorial concessions in the West Bank and is critical of government's Lebanon policy
International organization participation: BSEC (observer), CCC, CE (observer), CERN (observer), EBRD, ECE, FAO, IADB, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICFTU, IDA, IFAD, IFC, ILO, IMF, IMO, Inmarsat, Intelsat, Interpol, IOC, IOM, ISO, ITU, OAS (observer), OPCW, OSCE (partner), PCA, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UPU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTrO
Diplomatic representation in the US: chief of mission: Ambassador Zalman SHOVAL chancery: 3514 International Drive NW, Washington, DC 20008 consulate(s) general: Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Philadelphia, and San Francisco
Diplomatic representation from the US: chief of mission: Ambassador Edward S. WALKER, Jr. embassy: 71 Hayarkon Street, Tel Aviv mailing address: PSC 98, Unit 7228, APO AE 09830 consulate(s) general: Jerusalem; note--an independent US mission, established in 1928, whose members are not accredited to a foreign government
Flag description: white with a blue hexagram (six-pointed linear star) known as the Magen David (Shield of David) centered between two equal horizontal blue bands near the top and bottom edges of the flag
Economy
Economy--overview: Israel has a technologically advanced market economy with substantial government participation. It depends on imports of crude oil, grains, raw materials, and military equipment. Despite limited natural resources, Israel has intensively developed its agricultural and industrial sectors over the past 20 years. Manufacturing and construction employ about 28% of Israeli workers; agriculture, forestry, and fishing 2.6%; and services the rest. Israel is largely self-sufficient in food production except for grains. Diamonds, high-technology equipment, and agricultural products (fruits and vegetables) are leading exports. Israel usually posts sizable current account deficits, which are covered by large transfer payments from abroad and by foreign loans. Roughly half of the government's external debt is owed to the US, which is its major source of economic and military aid. The influx of Jewish immigrants from the former USSR topped 750,000 during the period 1989-98, bringing the population of Israel from the former Soviet Union to one million, one-sixth of the total population and adding scientific and professional expertise of substantial value for the economy's future. The influx, coupled with the opening of new markets at the end of the Cold War, energized Israel's economy, which grew rapidly in the early 1990s. But growth began slowing in 1996 when the government imposed tighter fiscal and monetary policies and the immigration bonus petered out.
GDP: purchasing power parity--$101.9 billion (1998 est.)
GDP--real growth rate: 1.9% (1998 est.)
GDP--per capita: purchasing power parity?$18,100 (1998 est.)
GDP--composition by sector: agriculture: 2% industry: 17% services: 81% (1997 est.)
Population below poverty line: NA%
Household income or consumption by percentage share: lowest 10%: 2.8% highest 10%: 26.9% (1992)
Inflation rate (consumer prices): 5.4% (1998 est.)
Labor force: 2.3 million (1997)
Labor force--by occupation: public services 31.2%, manufacturing 20.2%, finance and business 13.1%, commerce 12.8%, construction 7.5%, personal and other services 6.4%, transport, storage, and communications 6.2%, agriculture, forestry, and fishing 2.6% (1996)
Unemployment rate: 8.7% (1998 est.)
Budget: revenues: $55 billion expenditures: $58 billion, including capital expenditures of $NA (1998 est.)
Industries: food processing, diamond cutting and polishing, textiles and apparel, chemicals, metal products, military equipment, transport equipment, electrical equipment, potash mining, high-technology electronics, tourism
Industrial production growth rate: 5.4% (1996)
Electricity--production: 28.035 billion kWh (1996)
Electricity--production by source: fossil fuel: 99.88% hydro: 0.12% nuclear: 0% other: 0% (1996)
Electricity--consumption: 27.725 billion kWh (1996)
Electricity--exports: 310 million kWh (1996)
Electricity--imports: 0 kWh (1996)
Agriculture--products: citrus, vegetables, cotton; beef, poultry, dairy products
Exports: $22.1 billion (f.o.b., 1998)
Exports--commodities: machinery and equipment, cut diamonds, chemicals, textiles and apparel, agricultural products, metals
Exports--partners: US 32%, UK, Hong Kong, Benelux, Japan, Netherlands (1997)
Imports: $26.1 billion (f.o.b., 1998)
Imports--commodities: raw materials, military equipment, investment goods, rough diamonds, oil, consumer goods
Imports--partners: US 19%, Benelux 12%, Germany 9%, UK 8%, Italy 7%, Switzerland 6% (1997)
Debt--external: $18.7 billion (1997)
Economic aid--recipient: $1.241 billion (1994); note?$1.2 billion from the US (1997)
Currency: 1 new Israeli shekel (NIS) = 100 new agorot
Exchange rates: new Israeli shekels (NIS) per US$1--4.2269 (November 1998), 3.4494 (1997), 3.1917 (1996), 3.0113 (1995), 3.0111 (1994)
Fiscal year: calendar year (since 1 January 1992)
Communications
Telephones: 2.6 million (1996)
Telephone system: most highly developed system in the Middle East although not the largest domestic: good system of coaxial cable and microwave radio relay international: 3 submarine cables; satellite earth stations--3 Intelsat (2 Atlantic Ocean and 1 Indian Ocean)
Radio broadcast stations: AM 9, FM 45, shortwave 0
Radios: 2.25 million (1993 est.)
Television broadcast stations: 24 (in addition, there are 31 low-power repeaters) (1997)
Televisions: 1.5 million (1993 est.)
Transportation
Railways: total: 610 km standard gauge: 610 km 1.435-m gauge (1996)
Highways: total: 15,464 km paved: 15,464 km (including 56 km of expressways) unpaved: 0 km (1997 est.)
Pipelines: crude oil 708 km; petroleum products 290 km; natural gas 89 km
Ports and harbors: Ashdod, Ashqelon, Elat (Eilat), Hadera, Haifa, Tel Aviv-Yafo
Merchant marine: total: 23 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 736,419 GRT/855,497 DWT ships by type: cargo 1, container 21, roll-on/roll-off cargo 1 (1998 est.)
Airports: 54 (1998 est.)
Airports--with paved runways: total: 31 over 3,047 m: 2 2,438 to 3,047 m: 5 1,524 to 2,437 m: 7 914 to 1,523 m: 10 under 914 m: 7 (1998 est.)
Airports--with unpaved runways: total: 23 2,438 to 3,047 m: 1 1,524 to 2,437 m: 1 914 to 1,523 m: 3 under 914 m: 18 (1998 est.)
Heliports: 2 (1998 est.)
Military
Military branches: Israel Defense Forces (includes ground, naval, and air components), Pioneer Fighting Youth (Nahal), Frontier Guard, Chen (women); note--historically there have been no separate Israeli military services
Military manpower--military age: 18 years of age
Military manpower--availability: males age 15-49: 1,474,046 females age 15-49: 1,439,569 (1999 est.)
Military manpower--fit for military service: males age 15-49: 1,206,320 females age 15-49: 1,173,818 (1999 est.)
Military manpower--reaching military age annually: males: 50,737 females: 48,546 (1999 est.)
Military expenditures--dollar figure: $8.7 billion (1999)
Military expenditures--percent of GDP: 9.5% (1999)
Transnational Issues
Disputes--international: West Bank and Gaza Strip are Israeli-occupied with current status subject to the Israeli-Palestinian Interim Agreement--permanent status to be determined through further negotiation; Golan Heights is Israeli-occupied; Israeli troops in southern Lebanon since June 1982
Illicit drugs: increasingly concerned about cocaine and heroin abuse; drugs primarily arrive in country from Lebanon
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@Italy -----
Introduction
Background: Italy failed to secure political unification until the 1860s, thus lacking the military and imperial power of Spain, Britain, and France. The fascist dictatorship of MUSSOLINI after World War I, led to the disastrous alliance with HITLER's Germany and defeat in World War II. Italy was a founding member of the European Economic Community (EEC) and joined in the growing political and economic unification of Western Europe, including the introduction of the euro in January 1999. On-going problems include illegal immigration, the ravages of organized crime, high unemployment, and the low incomes and technical standards of Southern Italy compared with the North.
Geography
Location: Southern Europe, a peninsula extending into the central Mediterranean Sea, northeast of Tunisia
Geographic coordinates: 42 50 N, 12 50 E
Map references: Europe
Area: total: 301,230 sq km land: 294,020 sq km water: 7,210 sq km note: includes Sardinia and Sicily
Area--comparative: slightly larger than Arizona
Land boundaries: total: 1,932.2 km border countries: Austria 430 km, France 488 km, Holy See (Vatican City) 3.2 km, San Marino 39 km, Slovenia 232 km, Switzerland 740 km
Coastline: 7,600 km
Maritime claims: continental shelf: 200-m depth or to the depth of exploitation territorial sea: 12 nm
Climate: predominantly Mediterranean; Alpine in far north; hot, dry in south
Terrain: mostly rugged and mountainous; some plains, coastal lowlands
Elevation extremes: lowest point: Mediterranean Sea 0 m highest point: Mont Blanc (Monte Bianco) 4,807 m
Natural resources: mercury, potash, marble, sulfur, dwindling natural gas and crude oil reserves, fish, coal
Land use: arable land: 31% permanent crops: 10% permanent pastures: 15% forests and woodland: 23% other: 21% (1993 est.)
Irrigated land: 27,100 sq km (1993 est.)
Natural hazards: regional risks include landslides, mudflows, avalanches, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, flooding; land subsidence in Venice
Environment--current issues: air pollution from industrial emissions such as sulfur dioxide; coastal and inland rivers polluted from industrial and agricultural effluents; acid rain damaging lakes; inadequate industrial waste treatment and disposal facilities
Environment--international agreements: party to: Air Pollution, Air Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides, Air Pollution-Sulphur 85, Air Pollution-Sulphur 94, Air Pollution-Volatile Organic Compounds, Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands, Whaling signed, but not ratified: Air Pollution-Persistent Organic Pollutants, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol
Geography--note: strategic location dominating central Mediterranean as well as southern sea and air approaches to Western Europe
People
Population: 56,735,130 (July 1999 est.)
Age structure: 0-14 years: 14% (male 4,161,841; female 3,925,413) 15-64 years: 68% (male 19,205,293; female 19,285,848) 65 years and over: 18% (male 4,169,098; female 5,987,637) (1999 est.)
Population growth rate: -0.08% (1999 est.)
Birth rate: 9.27 births/1,000 population (1999 est.)
Death rate: 10.28 deaths/1,000 population (1999 est.)
Net migration rate: 0.17 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1999 est.)
Sex ratio: at birth: 1.06 male(s)/female under 15 years: 1.06 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 1 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.7 male(s)/female total population: 0.94 male(s)/female (1999 est.)
Infant mortality rate: 6.3 deaths/1,000 live births (1999 est.)
Life expectancy at birth: total population: 78.51 years male: 75.4 years female: 81.82 years (1999 est.)
Total fertility rate: 1.22 children born/woman (1999 est.)
Nationality: noun: Italian(s) adjective: Italian
Ethnic groups: Italian (includes small clusters of German-, French-, and Slovene-Italians in the north and Albanian-Italians and Greek-Italians in the south)
Religions: Roman Catholic 98%, other 2%
Languages: Italian, German (parts of Trentino-Alto Adige region are predominantly German speaking), French (small French-speaking minority in Valle d'Aosta region), Slovene (Slovene-speaking minority in the Trieste-Gorizia area)
Literacy: definition: age 15 and over can read and write total population: 97% male: 98% female: 96% (1990 est.)
Government
Country name: conventional long form: Italian Republic conventional short form: Italy local long form: Repubblica Italiana local short form: Italia former: Kingdom of Italy
Data code: IT
Government type: republic
Capital: Rome
Administrative divisions: 20 regions (regioni, singular--regione); Abruzzi, Basilicata, Calabria, Campania, Emilia-Romagna, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Lazio, Liguria, Lombardia, Marche, Molise, Piemonte, Puglia, Sardegna, Sicilia, Toscana, Trentino-Alto Adige, Umbria, Valle d'Aosta, Veneto
Independence: 17 March 1861 (Kingdom of Italy proclaimed)
National holiday: Anniversary of the Republic, 2 June (1946)
Constitution: 1 January 1948
Legal system: based on civil law system, with ecclesiastical law influence; appeals treated as trials de novo; judicial review under certain conditions in Constitutional Court; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction
Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal (except in senatorial elections, where minimum age is 25)
Executive branch: chief of state: President Oscar Luigi SCALFARO (since 28 May 1992) head of government: Prime Minister (referred to in Italy as the president of the Council of Ministers) Massimo D'ALEMA (since 27 October 1998) cabinet: Council of Ministers nominated by the prime minister and approved by the president elections: president elected by an electoral college consisting of both houses of Parliament and 58 regional representatives for a seven-year term; election last held 25 May 1992 (next to be held NA June 1999); prime minister appointed by the president and confirmed by parliament election results: Oscar Luigi SCALFARO elected president; percent of electoral college vote--NA
Legislative branch: bicameral Parliament or Parlamento consists of the Senate or Senato della Repubblica (326 seats--315 elected by popular vote of which 232 are directly elected and 83 are elected by regional proportional representation, 11 are appointed senators-for-life; members serve five-year terms) and the Chamber of Deputies or Camera dei Deputati (630 seats; 475 are directly elected, 155 by regional proportional representation; members serve five-year terms) elections: Senate--last held 21 April 1996 (next to be held by NA April 2001); Chamber of Deputies--last held 21 April 1996 (next to be held by NA April 2001) election results: Senate--percent of vote by party--NA; seats by party--Olive Tree 157, Freedom Alliance 116, Northern League 27, Refounded Communists 10, regional lists 3, Social Movement-Tricolor Flames 1, Panella Reformers 1; Chamber of Deputies--percent of vote by party--NA; seats by party--Olive Tree 284, Freedom Alliance 246, Northern League 59, Refounded Communists 35, Southern Tyrol List 3, Autonomous List 2, other 1
Judicial branch: Constitutional Court or Corte Costituzionale, composed of 15 judges (one-third appointed by the president, one-third elected by Parliament, one-third elected by the ordinary and administrative supreme courts)
Political parties and leaders: MARINI]
Political pressure groups and leaders: the Roman Catholic Church; three major trade union confederations (Confederazione Generale D'ANTONI] which is Catholic centrist, and Unione Italiana del Lavoro manufacturers and merchants associations (Confindustria, Confcommercio); organized farm groups (Confcoltivatori, Confagricoltura)
International organization participation: AfDB, AsDB, Australia Group, BIS, BSEC (observer), CCC, CDB (non-regional), CE, CEI, CERN, EAPC, EBRD, ECE, ECLAC, EIB, EMU, ESA, EU, FAO, G- 7, G-10, IADB, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICFTU, ICRM, IDA, IEA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, Inmarsat, Intelsat, Interpol, IOC, IOM, ISO, ITU, LAIA (observer), MINURSO, MTCR, NAM (guest), NATO, NEA, NSG, OAS (observer), OECD, OPCW, OSCE, PCA, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UNIFIL, UNIKOM, UNITAR, UNMIBH, UNMOGIP, UNTSO, UPU, WCL, WEU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTrO, ZC
Diplomatic representation in the US: chief of mission: Ambassador Ferdinando SALLEO chancery: 1601 Fuller Street NW, Washington, DC 20009 and 2700 16th Street NW, Washington, DC 20009 consulate(s) general: Boston, Chicago, Houston, Miami, New York, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and San Francisco consulate(s): Detroit
Diplomatic representation from the US: chief of mission: Ambassador Thomas M. FOGLIETTA embassy: Via Veneto 119/A, 00187-Rome mailing address: PSC 59, Box 100, APO AE 09624 consulate(s) general: Florence, Milan, Naples
Flag description: three equal vertical bands of green (hoist side), white, and red; similar to the flag of Ireland, which is longer and is green (hoist side), white, and orange; also similar to the flag of the Cote d'Ivoire, which has the colors reversed--orange (hoist side), white, and green
Economy